Michelle Obama to Receive Nickelodeon's Big Help Award, 3/27

Nickelodeon will honor the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, with the Big Help Award in a special presentation during Nickelodeon's 23rd Annual Kids' Choice Awards on Saturday, March 27. The Big Help Award will pay tribute to the First Lady for her leadership in championing a healthy generation of kids and families through her recently launched Let's Move! initiative. The award recognizes those who seek to better the world, and whose significant impact on their community has inspired kids to do the same.

"First Lady Michelle Obama has taken on one of this generation's most pressing concerns: the health and wellness of our nation's children," said Marva Smalls, Executive Vice President, Public Affairs and Chief of Staff, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group. "Her willingness to work hard, influence others and her dedication to improving the nation is inspiring, and we are proud to honor her for her commitment to empowering kids and families to address one of the most important issues of today."

Launched in February 2010 by the First Lady to end the American epidemic of childhood obesity in a single generation, the nationwide Let's Move! campaign focuses on helping parents make healthier life choices for their families, providing healthier food in schools, encouraging kids to be more active and ensuring access to healthy, affordable food in every part of the country. Nickelodeon is dedicating resources and research to the campaign, including kid- and family-targeted public service announcements (PSAs), and special programming events on its channels and websites.

The presentation of the Big Help Award signals the launch of Nickelodeon's The Big Help "Millions on the Move" campaign to inspire a kid-led movement of positive change. The campaign combines all of Nickelodeon's existing pro-social efforts under one umbrella, and focuses on four key issues that kids have identified as being important to them: the environment; education; health and wellness; and community service.

Campaign resources and tools for The Big Help will be available on a dedicated website, launching March 27. As kids complete real-world projects, they can collect points and rewards online, and engage with other participants in The Big Help virtual community at www.thebighelp.com.

The Big Help "Millions on the Move" campaign will highlight four different areas throughout 2010-11:

Environment (April 8-May 31, 2010) - The Big Help will first focus on the environment when Nick introduces a series of PSAs to promote activities that kids can do to improve the environment.

Health and Wellness (June 1-Sept. 25, 2010) - Health and wellbeing will be the second area of concentration for The Big Help, beginning with on-air PSAs that encourage kids to be active. Nick will also host the 7th annual Worldwide Day of Play on Sept. 25.

Education (Sept. 7-Dec. 10, 2010) - The Big Help will shift its focus to education in the fall with educational-themed PSAs and the continuation of Nickelodeon's "Beyond the Backpack" campaign--a key component of Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer 10th anniversary--which champions overall school readiness for preschoolers.

Community Service (Dec. 11, 2010-Mar. 26, 2011) - Service will be the last piece of The Big Help year-long campaign. On-air PSAs will encourage kids' participation in service-related activities in neighborhoods and schools. Additionally, Nickelodeon's digital network, TeenNick, will air the TeenNick HALO Awards, hosted by Nick Cannon, which acknowledges teen philanthropic efforts.

Nickelodeon's 2010 The Big Help initiative builds upon Nickelodeon's award-winning 1994-2004 campaign of the same name, which galvanized more than 33 million kids to volunteer 383 million hours of community service. The current campaign will live on multiple platforms with on-air PSAs, the dedicated website, and through grass roots outreach through Nick's pro-social partners, including: National Wildlife Federation; Natural Resources Defense Council; Boys & Girls Clubs of America; National Environmental Education Foundation; NEA Foundation; US Forest Service and LeBron James Family Foundation.

The 2010 The Big Help campaign continues Nickelodeon's legacy of addressing issues important to kids--whether it's motivating millions of kids to be active with its Let's Just Play health and wellness campaign, inspiring more than 2 million kids to help the environment with The Big Green Help, or recognizing those kids and teens who are working to make a significant difference in the world with its grants programs and the TeenNick HALO Awards.

Nickelodeon, now in its 30th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in almost 100 million households and has been the number-one rated basic cable network for 15 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA - News, VIA.B - News).

Photo credit: Joyce N. Boghosian / The White House (Michelle Obama)

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